Blue
by betawho
Summary: The Doctor is turning blue, bright, sapphire blue. River desperately struggles to stop the infection. But the Doctor isn't cooperating. In fact, he seems to be enjoying it...


The Doctor woke up with a blistering headache. He felt like he'd been whacked in the back of the head with a frying pan.

He blinked bleary eyes, and looked up to see River kneeling over him with a concerned look on her face, her hair tucked back behind her ears.

"Sweetie? Are you okay?"

His eyebrows popped up, he wasn't used to that sort of timid tone from her.

He tried to sit up. "Ugh. River, you appear to be kneeling on my arm," he pointed out. It pinched. She was heavy, she was bearing down on that arm with one knee.

"You're cutting off the circulation," he pointed out. Which was a bit worrying, since she seemed to be doing it deliberately. Was her training kicking back in? He looked at her eyes, trying to judge her mood.

"I know, honey, I'm sorry. But this is the only way I could stop it spreading."

Now his eyebrows really did pop up. "Spreading?"

She leaned back, he looked down, his sleeve appeared to have been ripped off. River's handheld computer lay beside his shoulder, still scrolling through information. His hand, and halfway up his forearm, was bright blue.

Not, "lack of circulation" blue, but bright, sapphire "glittery with alien poison" blue. He could see it slowly creeping in tendrils up his arm.

"I can't find anything on this in the database." River said. "It was spreading so fast I didn't dare move you. I had to bean you with a coconut to bring you down, you were acting irrationally."

At the mention of the coconut his eyes flicked around, he'd assumed they were in the Tardis, but they were outside, under some wavy alien palm trees with leaves that were just edged in pink. He flexed his fingers. Sand under him. A soft baby blue sky.

He looked up at River again, she knew exactly how to cut off the blood flow to his arm, she was kneeling right on his vein, it pinched, he couldn't feel his fingers, and her expression was even more painful, she looked worried, and annoyed, and scared.

He wasn't used to seeing River scared. "It's some sort of blood infection, that's all I could find out," she swatted her computer. It was a very Amy move.

"River, you need to get off my arm."

She stared down at him. "Why? Do you know what it is?"

"Yes. And it really hurts."

"Oh, Sweetie, we need to get you into the Tardis." She looked down at herself, she was wearing her combat dress and wide leather stomacher. She stared down at his braces. "At times like this I wish you wore a belt."

"River, trust me," he tried to flex his arm, but she had it firmly pinned. The blue was almost to his shoulder now. It wasn't the blue that hurt, it was her knee. And the coconut bump on the back of his head.

"Right," she became fiercely resolute, like she did when she got all protective and had a plan. "We've got to get you to the Tardis sickbay."

"No," he held up his other hand, and laid it to her cheek. "There's a quicker way to deal with this." He reached his head up and kissed her.

He pulled back. "I'm sorry," he said softly.

"Oh, Sweetie," River said at the look on his face.

"It's contagious," he said, grabbing one hand on her biceps.

She stared, she looked down at the hand she had resting against his face. Her fingertips were turning blue.

Before she could react he yanked on her arm and rolled her over. Laughing.

"What! You madman, we have to get in the Tardis and find a cure!"

He rolled her over, still laughing, the blue was spreading up the side of his neck now.

He grinned down at her, eyes gleaming with laughter and good spirits. "It's not dangerous, River. It's a planetary effect. In fact," he leaned down and pressed his nose to hers. "It's very healthy." He shook out his arm. "Dang your knee hurt!"

"You idiot, you're turning blue!" she protested. She scrabbled her arms up, trying to press on his carotid artery, desperate to stop the blue flowing to his brain.

He twisted his neck away. He rolled, taking her with him. Suddenly his fingers were tickling her ribs. She barked a laugh involuntarily. Suddenly they were fighting and rolling and tickling and the Doctor was proving to be slippery as an eel, she couldn't get a grip on him to stop his irrational behavior, or the spread of the blue.

She complained, and fought, and tried to stop his antics. He was giggling, and kissing her all over her face and tickling her all over.

"River, it's okay!" he finally said. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "It's an aphrodisiac. The blue's a side effect. It will fade." He pulled back. "It fades faster with two." He wiggled his eyebrows.

Then he kissed her, and tickled her and rolled her over and over and over in the sand, until they were yards away from the Tardis. He didn't feel sick in her arms. Or feverish. Her hands roamed over him everywhere, checking. In fact, he felt very solid, and healthy, and... nice.

He stopped rolling, with her on top of him. She tingled everywhere. She was out of breath, her blood was racing. The man was a merciless tickler.

He beamed up at her, eyes gleaming, grinning like a maniac. She could see herself reflected in his eyes.

"Oh no." she stared down at her arms. She stared back at her reflection. She was completely blue. Glittering sapphire blue, even her hair was aqua.

He wrapped his perfectly healthy arms tight around her waist and laughed uproarously. He grinned at her, perfectly delighted.

"Hello, Smurfette."

—

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